QuoteTheyre the 2nd team in Valencia, Pedrag Mijatovic used to play for them when his daughter had to have specialist medical treatment at the hospital there...Originally Posted by bitored
Teaming up with Mjallby then.
Theyre the 2nd team in Valencia, Pedrag Mijatovic used to play for them when his daughter had to have specialist medical treatment at the hospital there...
According to Levante's website Harte will have a medical tomorrow. He will then be presented to the media in a 12noon local time press conference at the Hotel Melia Valencia Palace on Friday.
So it looks a cert now.
Much maligned by a lot of people, myself included, but good luck to him. Hope it re-invigorates his career.
Totally agreed
Fair play to him....I have critisisd him as much as the next but maybe if he gets a bit of confidence back he will not be a lost cause. I am still not convinced by o shea at left back and if harte inproved his defending then he would beok....he is worth his place in the irelan squad for his free kick skills alone
If he joins them I'll be hoping he and his team are a success in la liga. Levante's only claim to fame was the auctioning of Vincente some years back before the lad's campanas had fully dropped
This is the cooooooooooooolest footy forum I've ever seen!
I know Harte gets a lot of flak but I remember him being
right at the top of opta stats for completed crosses/passes.
He was in the top 5, maybe at number 1.
The only other Irish players I remember figuring in those list
were Roy Keane (completes passes) and Duff (completes runs
and maybe crosses too).
The you have to remember he is playing behind Duff so he is
going to be left exposed at times as Duff is more attack minded
than Kilbane.
Unfortunately Opta don't seem to publish such stats (for free)
anymore.
I have just been to their site and I found this quote.
"this tool provides immediate understanding as to why more of David Beckham’s crosses were unsuccessful than successful. Is he putting it into the wrong areas, or are the strikers making the wrong runs??"
Or is he just useless? That is the blatently obvious answer to me!!
I think Harte has ability, he just needs a gigantic kick up the arse every now and again.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Nationalism is an infantile disease, the measles of mankind
I still can't believe that nobody has ever thought of playing Harte on the left wing. I know he is slow but at least he wouldn't be exposed defencively and he can still put in those class deliveries and be lethal from set pieces. He also has the ability to get around a man. Just don't ask him to defend.
Just finished reading 'The Gaffers' by Paul Howard and he states that Harte has a higher free-kick and penalty success than Mr. P. Spice. Perhaps if there were rules like American football where you could bring on a bloke to take a free kick or a penalty then take him off again, Ian would be a legend.
This is the cooooooooooooolest footy forum I've ever seen!
Harte's lack of pace was frequently exposed in the kick-and-rush premiership, I remember Kieran Dyer repeatedly skinning him a few years ago for Newcastle when O'Leary was still in charge, Harte didn't start the return game too.
The Primera Liga is different, with a little extra time on the ball to pick out passes, Harte's confidence will definately improve. As long as Levante don't get completely crushed in every game, he should improve.
As it is he's second choice left full behind O'Shea, with an injury to him, or one of the centre-halves he'll be back in with an opportunity to impress.
Just as a side bar, was John Aldridge the last Irish international to play in Spain when he was at Real Socieded?
According to MARCA, Levante confirmed his signing last night. He has a medical this morning and will be presented to the press at 12 noon.I think you are right. Kevin Moran signed for Sporting Lisbon at about the same time (1988) or maybe the season before. Were the only other Irish players to have played in Spain Alan Campbell at Racing Santander and a Northern Ireland fringe player with a big ginger moustache at Celta Vigo in the mid eighties?
This is the cooooooooooooolest footy forum I've ever seen!
In fairness, I think Finnan, who is a vastly more competent defender than Harte, is 2nd choice at left back and is the one who will come in if anyone across the back 4 is injured.
micheal robinson played in spain and retired there-he commentates for spanish tv now.
"tight? he's the kinda guy that eats baked beans on tuesday so's he can have a bubble bath on wednesday"!
Forgot him. They've even got a 'spitting image' type puppet of him on his show 'El dia despues' as well as a weekend programme covering politics and other non-football topics where he's the anchor-puppet.
This is the cooooooooooooolest footy forum I've ever seen!
Babb and Mahon played for Sporting Lisbon (Portuguese League) in 2001.
I just checked Levante's website and it says he signed a 4 year contract last night. Press conference this afternoon.
http://www.levanteud.com/index.php/v...a/id/1543.html
Their coach, Bernd Schuster, has a good reputation for getting a lot out of players. I think its good weve got a player in our squad (potentially) who'll be playing continental football next year, it will add a bit more experience with him having to face the likes of Saviola, Ronaldino, Aimar and Fernando Torres every week.
Fair play to Harte for giving it a go. Brian Kerr has said it before (and I agree with him) that as long as our players confine themselves to the English leagues then they will find it difficult to adapt to different styles of play used "on the continent".
Hopefully he will adapt well and other Irish players will follow suit.
The only way is up!
mark kinsella is having a trial with leeds and played in their 2-0 defeat at mansfield last night
" I wish to God that someone would be able to block out the voices in my head for five minutes, the voices that scream, over and over again: "Why do they come to me to die?"
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